Doc's Talk: Abbas claims Israel doesn't want peace or two-state solution

Monday, November 09, 2009

Abbas claims Israel doesn't want peace or two-state solution

Nov. 9, 2009
KHALED ABU TOAMEH and TOVAH LAZAROFF , THE JERUSALEM POST

Israel does not want peace, does not want to stop settlement construction and does not want the two-state solution, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. Addressing supporters during a rare visit to Bethlehem and Hebron, Abbas said that the Palestinians would not make any additional concessions and would continue to demand their rights.

"I don't know what the Israelis want," he said. "They must start thinking about what needs to be done if they really want peace."

Meanwhile, Hassan Khraisheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, called on Abbas to seriously consider dissolving the PA because of the failure of the peace process.

"This authority was created so that it could prepare for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Khraisheh said. "But after more than 15 years of thorough negotiations with Israel, this state still hasn't been established."

On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post, quoting senior PA officials, revealed that Abbas was already considering dismantling the PA, to protest Washington's failure to force Israel to freeze settlement construction.

Abbas said that he was not setting preconditions for resuming peace talks with Israel, but was only demanding the implementation of the road map plan for peace in the Middle East.

"We have accepted the road map and United Nations resolutions and we have fulfilled all our obligations toward the peace process," Abbas declared. "We have made big achievements regarding security and the economy [in the West Bank], while the Israelis haven't done anything."

He told the crowd that Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron, with their mosques and churches, will forever remain Palestinian cities.

"No matter how much they [Israel] try to assault our holy sites and lands, we won't allow them to do so," he said. "Jerusalem will remain the eternal capital of the Palestinian people."

Abbas urged the Palestinians not to lose faith in peace, and to continue their efforts to achieve security, stability and independence.

He also lashed out at Hamas, accusing the Islamist movement of foiling Egyptian efforts to end the crisis with Fatah.

Abbas's visit to Bethlehem came amid renewed talk about tensions between him and PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.

A senior PA official said that Abbas was surprised to hear on Sunday morning from the Israeli media about secret understandings between Fayad and President Barack Obama over US recognition of Fayad's plan for an independent Palestinian state.

Such recognition would purportedly transform any Israeli presence in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem into an illegal incursion, to which the Palestinians would be entitled to respond in self-defense.

A source close to Fayad said that no such secret deal had been reached with the Americans.

Fayad recently unveiled a detailed plan for creating a de facto state within two years. But many believe its undeclared intention is to unilaterally create a Palestinian state within two years.

Portions of Fayad's plan for statehood have been welcomed by the Israeli government because of its emphasis on building infrastructure and bolstering the Palestinian security forces as well as its economy.

But Israel has opposed any move by the Palestinians to unilaterally declare a state, nor does it believe that America would support such a move.

Speaking last week at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon addressed the veiled threat of a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood when asked about Fayad's plan.

"The emergence of a Palestinian state will only be the result of consensus and successful negotiations," Ayalon said. He added that he believed the two-year time line was unrealistic.

A Foreign Ministry official told the Post on Sunday that the US administration does not favor unilateral moves and has very clearly called on both Israelis and Palestinians to resume negotiations.

"A negotiated peace is the only game in town at the moment," the Foreign Ministry official said.

The senior PA official told the Post that Abbas was "unaware" of any secret deal between Obama and Fayad.

"The Americans should know that Fayad is the prime minister and not the president," the official said. "Any attempt to bypass President Abbas will fail, because he's the only address."

A Fatah operative closely associated with Abbas said that there is growing concern among Fatah leaders that the US was trying to "replace Abbas with Fayad."

"There's a feeling that the Americans have reached a decision to turn Fayad into the president of the Palestinian Authority," the Fatah official said. "This has created tensions between the two men."

Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official and Abbas loyalist, said that his faction considers Abbas the only suitable candidate to lead the Palestinians.

"There is no substitute for President Abbas," he said, in a clear message to the US.

He also did not rule out that possibility that Abbas would postpone the elections slated for January 24, due to the ongoing crisis with Hamas.

Sources in Ramallah noted that Fayad had not come out strongly in support of Abbas after the latter's announcement that he would not run in the next elections. Unlike many senior PA and Fatah officials, Fayad has refrained from making a public appeal to Abbas to reconsider his decision.

Meanwhile, Hamas announced that Fayad does not have a mandate to reach any agreement on behalf of the Palestinians. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Fayad as a tool in the hands of the Israelis and Americans.

"Fayad does not represent the Palestinian people," Abu Zuhri said. "His ideas are aimed at covering up for the failure of the so-called peace process."

But Dan Diker, a senior analyst for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said he believed that it would be Abbas who would unilaterally declare a Palestinian state somewhere in the next 16 to 20 months, since Fayad lacked the authority to do so.

He has threatened to resign now because he wants to make sure that the US is behind him when he does, said Diker, who is convinced that the US would indeed back Abbas at that moment.

Former Israeli ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval told the Post that a unilateral declaration of statehood would "immediately put an end to the peace process."

He added that it "would make null and void" all past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, including those regarding security.

"It should be a major effort of Israeli foreign policy to avoid [unilateral statehood] and to make it clear that Palestinian statehood must be based on mutual agreements," said Shoval.

While he did not believe the US would support such a move, he said, "we should not ignore that something might be in the works from that point of view. The fact that it appeared in the press this morning, might indicate that there was an active effort on the part of someone to make this an issue, perhaps as a threat to Israel."

A Jerusalem official said that the Palestinians were not ready for statehood at this time, but that any threat of unilateral action on their part could be actualized in two years.

In the interim, the official said, the obvious strategy to combat this is to negotiate with the Palestinians.

It is a move that Israel, the US and the international community supports, the official said.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1257455214562&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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